Sonar may be used to perform bathymetry, detect underwater hazards, find fish, and/or otherwise assist in navigation by producing data and/or imagery of a water column beneath a watercraft. Conventional sonar systems often include one or more independently operating sonar transducers with temporally and/or spatially non-overlapping beams arranged to help differentiate ensonifications and produce traditionally recognizable sonar imagery.
Higher quality sonar imagery has conventionally been associated with relatively large and unwieldy sonar transducer assemblies that can preclude operation in shallow depths. Sonar systems incorporating such assemblies are typically expensive and cannot be used with a large portion of non-commercial watercraft. At the same time, consumer market pressures and convenience dictate smaller and easier to use systems that include more features and produce higher quality resulting imagery. Thus, there is a need for an improved methodology to provide compact yet feature-rich and flexible-use sonar systems, particularly in the context of providing relatively high quality enhanced sonar data and/or imagery.